Minister for Forests and Environment Ain Bahadur Shahi has said that Nepal will present the Karnali Declaration at the upcoming COP29 Summit. 

Conference of Parties (COP) will have its 29th UN annual conference on climate change in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11 to November 22.

The minister made the remark during a pre-COP29 orientation organised by the Climate Change Management Division. The three-day event began on Wednesday, October 23.

Claiming that Nepal’s preparations are in full swing for the summit, Shahi told RSS, the state-owned news agency, that the session on Climate Finance would be crucial for Nepal.

Earlier, the ministry had collaborated with an organisation named Sath Sathai to organise a workshop on climate change on October 19 and 20 in Karnali, also as a preparation for this year’s Conference of the Parties.

The workshop which saw participation of climate experts and people’s representatives from every district in the Karnali Province concluded by issuing the five-point Karnali Declaration. 

During the workshop, the local representatives mentioned agricultural loss, depletion of water resources and the reduction in snowfall to be among the perceived consequences of climate change in Karnali of late, Shahi told RSS.

Similarly, Rupa BK,  Minister of State for Forests and Environment,  stressed that Nepal should assertively voice its concerns at the conference, demanding developed nations to provide financial and technical support to help developing countries implement climate-friendly initiatives.

The COP is an annual event that brings together the governments who are a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or the international environmental treaties like the Kyoto Protocol.

COP 28 took place in UAE last year which saw the creation of a global stocktake and marked the first time that nearly 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.

(With inputs from RSS)